The Original Stonehenge - You've Not Heard Of [8:21]

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0:02 · the year is 1891 and some workmen in Thomas Hardy's garden are digging out some foundations
0:07 · when they stumble across a problem, Thomas Hardy's garden just so happens to be here, now
0:12 · that problem they stumbled across would turn out to be a large sasson stone and it would take many
0:17 · men with many levers a number of hours to remove that problem in fact Thomas Hardy would write a
0:23 · poem about this very Sasson stone which he erected in his garden soon after it was removed from the
0:30 · ground it remains there to this day it would take another 90 years from that point in 1891 for us
0:37 · to realize the importance of that sarsen stone and its context here in the landscape that stone
0:42 · would turn out to potentially be more important than the entire Stonehenge complex okay so have a
0:50 · look have a look at these maps these are from 1888 1890 thereabouts and we have this is probably the
0:56 · best one Max Gate House now that was designed by Thomas Hardy in 1885 so the map makers of the time
1:04 · already knew the importance of this landscape to the immediate east we have a camp barrerow and a
1:10 · ditch system now identified as Bronze Age and to the west we have the Iron Age Maiden Castle
1:16 · already at this point being recognized as having more than one era of history but at this point
1:21 · absolutely nothing under or near Thomas Hardy's house and that estate now there is one thing that
1:26 · should have been noted that was found underneath that Sassen Stone when he was digging the
1:31 · foundations for an extension or whatever come back to that very shortly quick side quest now you'll
1:36 · note that the house is called Max Gate House well that was supposedly after a toll gate house just a
1:42 · couple of hundred yards down the road which was run by somebody called Mack, M a c K now Thomas
1:48 · Hardy said that it was a joke that he was going to name his house Max House i'm not quite sure I
1:54 · get that joke as such maybe I don't understand Victorian humor but even on those maps of the
2:00 · time well then that toll house had changed to Max Gate Max Gate I don't know anyway underneath that
2:08 · Sarsen Stone were the builders at the time found some charred remains of some bones and some ashes
2:14 · now that really should have rung some significant alarm bells and would do today telling us that
2:19 · that Sarsen Stone wasn't just a random spurious one-off it was placed there for a very specific
2:26 · reason so let's move forward to 1988 the locals of Dorchester are now elated because traffic heading
2:35 · south to the coast from pretty much anywhere no longer has to drive through the town center of
2:41 · Dorchester a new bypass skirting around the south of the town is now open now thankfully this didn't
2:48 · happen a decade or so earlier because we probably wouldn't have had any archaeology but we do Wessex
2:54 · Archaeology get the ball rolling and they start to do some excavation on the site of the new
2:59 · bypass which would end up going through part of the Thomas Hardy Max Gate House estate now what
3:06 · they found here was nothing short of extraordinary and combining that excavation with more modern
3:12 · analysis and more analysis of the radioarbon dating from the stuff they found back there where
3:18 · now we get a much better picture of how really that site there should be considered the original
3:25 · Stonehenge 3,500 to 3,750 BC so from the start we have a very irregular collection of pit diggings
3:39 · now whilst this might not look circular don't forget that we only have half of this to look at
3:44 · owing to the fact that the bypass was constructed or about to be in 1980s but here we are early
3:51 · Neolithic now for those that want Stonehenge context well this is around 500 to 750 years
3:58 · prior to the earthworks when they were first started at Stonehenge 3,100 to 3,300 BC then
4:06 · we have an interval and quite a sizable one too on the grander scheme of things a very
4:11 · approximate 400 years give or take these early pits were infilled and we have the beginnings
4:17 · of a circular enclosure being constructed here it's at this point we start to see the site used
4:23 · for activity and here's the thing this part seems very similar to Stonehenge but with one
4:30 · significant difference we'll come to that very shortly now one of the things I always say is
4:35 · really important to do at least for me is to try and have a look at the landscape that you're in
4:39 · when you're talking about a topic like this so we have the enclosure at the top of that hill
4:44 · back there i'm trying to find a few more vantage points around here to sort of have a look at it
4:49 · from a different direction a different perspective i think in this case particularly that might help
4:54 · us understand a few other noteworthy bits from that site in this case the very shortlived use
5:01 · of that enclosure back across the valley there so we have uh buried three children one of which
5:07 · was placed underneath a block of sandstone and we have an adult male as well cremated in this case
5:13 · and placed underneath a large sass stone that was it that was the very shortlived use on that
5:20 · era for another thousand years at that point we now moved into Bronze Age when we see a young
5:26 · adult male buried right in the center again with a sass stone placed over the top of his
5:31 · body okay okay you might be thinking Paul this doesn't look anything like a stone circle yes
5:40 · we have some stones placed over some cremations or remains but Stonehenge is Stonehenge it's a
5:46 · huge circle in fact more than one stone circle and the thing is Stonehenge started out just
5:52 · like this 3000 BC and we see the first activity there a circular ditched enclosure no sen stones
6:00 · no blue stones nothing like that to speak of just the outer ditch from that point forward
6:05 · we seeerary activity and they're on for quite some significant time now do you remember the
6:10 · date of this site here in Dorchester the flag stone site well we have a strong carbon dating
6:17 · set of data now and much more in recent times as it's once again been scrutinized in a paper in
6:23 · March 2025 and that told us this monument here adjacent to Dorchester was 200 years
6:30 · before Stonehenge definitely worth the view to kind of get a better picture of the landscape
6:36 · and all the various eras of history up here what exactly does all of this actually mean
6:44 · well for a start we need to look further into the landscape that's around us there's so much more
6:49 · to offer than just Stonehenge there's so much more to learn and don't get me wrong Stonehenge
6:54 · is great it's a great introduction to the eras and what happened but I don't think there's a
6:59 · great deal more we're going to learn from it now to date that is the earliest circular enclosure
7:04 · of its type that we know of in Britain now there are a few others that we know of but they've yet
7:09 · to be excavated and therefore yet to be dated and of course we could end up finding more
7:15 · but this site is now a marker of some hugely important changes firstly this period in the
7:22 · middle Neolithic saw a change from inhumations or burials to cremations and at Stonehenge we see at
7:29 · least 60 cremations following its enclosure ditch now at Flagstones here next to Dorchester we have
7:35 · the enclosure ditch and theerary activities taking place earlier than Stonehenge and the cremations
7:42 · of adults along with the burials of children well maybe this represents an early phase of
7:48 · this transition to cremation and finally the other thing that this does for us is it marks a period
7:54 · the earliest period in which we move away from the long linear structures the burials and the
8:00 · ritual places the curses and the long barrerows of the world and it moves us into a new world
8:06 · of circles of course apart from the nearly causeway enclosures that's a whole another
8:10 · story i've been Paul thanks for watching click subscribe and we'll see you this time next week

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--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:02	·	the year is 1891 and some workmen in Thomas Hardy's garden are digging out some foundations
0:07	·	when they stumble across a problem, Thomas Hardy's garden just so happens to be here, now
0:12	·	that problem they stumbled across would turn out to be a large sasson stone and it would take many
0:17	·	men with many levers a number of hours to remove that problem in fact Thomas Hardy would write a
0:23	·	poem about this very Sasson stone which he erected in his garden soon after it was removed from the
0:30	·	ground it remains there to this day it would take another 90 years from that point in 1891 for us
0:37	·	to realize the importance of that sarsen stone and its context here in the landscape that stone
0:42	·	would turn out to potentially be more important than the entire Stonehenge complex okay so have a
0:50	·	look have a look at these maps these are from 1888 1890 thereabouts and we have this is probably the
0:56	·	best one Max Gate House now that was designed by Thomas Hardy in 1885 so the map makers of the time
1:04	·	already knew the importance of this landscape to the immediate east we have a camp barrerow and a
1:10	·	ditch system now identified as Bronze Age and to the west we have the Iron Age Maiden Castle
1:16	·	already at this point being recognized as having more than one era of history but at this point
1:21	·	absolutely nothing under or near Thomas Hardy's house and that estate now there is one thing that
1:26	·	should have been noted that was found underneath that Sassen Stone when he was digging the
1:31	·	foundations for an extension or whatever come back to that very shortly quick side quest now you'll
1:36	·	note that the house is called Max Gate House well that was supposedly after a toll gate house just a
1:42	·	couple of hundred yards down the road which was run by somebody called Mack, M a c K now Thomas
1:48	·	Hardy said that it was a joke that he was going to name his house Max House i'm not quite sure I
1:54	·	get that joke as such maybe I don't understand Victorian humor but even on those maps of the
2:00	·	time well then that toll house had changed to Max Gate Max Gate I don't know anyway underneath that
2:08	·	Sarsen Stone were the builders at the time found some charred remains of some bones and some ashes
2:14	·	now that really should have rung some significant alarm bells and would do today telling us that
2:19	·	that Sarsen Stone wasn't just a random spurious one-off it was placed there for a very specific
2:26	·	reason so let's move forward to 1988 the locals of Dorchester are now elated because traffic heading
2:35	·	south to the coast from pretty much anywhere no longer has to drive through the town center of
2:41	·	Dorchester a new bypass skirting around the south of the town is now open now thankfully this didn't
2:48	·	happen a decade or so earlier because we probably wouldn't have had any archaeology but we do Wessex
2:54	·	Archaeology get the ball rolling and they start to do some excavation on the site of the new
2:59	·	bypass which would end up going through part of the Thomas Hardy Max Gate House estate now what
3:06	·	they found here was nothing short of extraordinary and combining that excavation with more modern
3:12	·	analysis and more analysis of the radioarbon dating from the stuff they found back there where
3:18	·	now we get a much better picture of how really that site there should be considered the original
3:25	·	Stonehenge 3,500 to 3,750 BC so from the start we have a very irregular collection of pit diggings
3:39	·	now whilst this might not look circular don't forget that we only have half of this to look at
3:44	·	owing to the fact that the bypass was constructed or about to be in 1980s but here we are early
3:51	·	Neolithic now for those that want Stonehenge context well this is around 500 to 750 years
3:58	·	prior to the earthworks when they were first started at Stonehenge 3,100 to 3,300 BC then
4:06	·	we have an interval and quite a sizable one too on the grander scheme of things a very
4:11	·	approximate 400 years give or take these early pits were infilled and we have the beginnings
4:17	·	of a circular enclosure being constructed here it's at this point we start to see the site used
4:23	·	for activity and here's the thing this part seems very similar to Stonehenge but with one
4:30	·	significant difference we'll come to that very shortly now one of the things I always say is
4:35	·	really important to do at least for me is to try and have a look at the landscape that you're in
4:39	·	when you're talking about a topic like this so we have the enclosure at the top of that hill
4:44	·	back there i'm trying to find a few more vantage points around here to sort of have a look at it
4:49	·	from a different direction a different perspective i think in this case particularly that might help
4:54	·	us understand a few other noteworthy bits from that site in this case the very shortlived use
5:01	·	of that enclosure back across the valley there so we have uh buried three children one of which
5:07	·	was placed underneath a block of sandstone and we have an adult male as well cremated in this case
5:13	·	and placed underneath a large sass stone that was it that was the very shortlived use on that
5:20	·	era for another thousand years at that point we now moved into Bronze Age when we see a young
5:26	·	adult male buried right in the center again with a sass stone placed over the top of his
5:31	·	body okay okay you might be thinking Paul this doesn't look anything like a stone circle yes
5:40	·	we have some stones placed over some cremations or remains but Stonehenge is Stonehenge it's a
5:46	·	huge circle in fact more than one stone circle and the thing is Stonehenge started out just
5:52	·	like this 3000 BC and we see the first activity there a circular ditched enclosure no sen stones
6:00	·	no blue stones nothing like that to speak of just the outer ditch from that point forward
6:05	·	we seeerary activity and they're on for quite some significant time now do you remember the
6:10	·	date of this site here in Dorchester the flag stone site well we have a strong carbon dating
6:17	·	set of data now and much more in recent times as it's once again been scrutinized in a paper in
6:23	·	March 2025 and that told us this monument here adjacent to Dorchester was 200 years
6:30	·	before Stonehenge definitely worth the view to kind of get a better picture of the landscape
6:36	·	and all the various eras of history up here what exactly does all of this actually mean
6:44	·	well for a start we need to look further into the landscape that's around us there's so much more
6:49	·	to offer than just Stonehenge there's so much more to learn and don't get me wrong Stonehenge
6:54	·	is great it's a great introduction to the eras and what happened but I don't think there's a
6:59	·	great deal more we're going to learn from it now to date that is the earliest circular enclosure
7:04	·	of its type that we know of in Britain now there are a few others that we know of but they've yet
7:09	·	to be excavated and therefore yet to be dated and of course we could end up finding more
7:15	·	but this site is now a marker of some hugely important changes firstly this period in the
7:22	·	middle Neolithic saw a change from inhumations or burials to cremations and at Stonehenge we see at
7:29	·	least 60 cremations following its enclosure ditch now at Flagstones here next to Dorchester we have
7:35	·	the enclosure ditch and theerary activities taking place earlier than Stonehenge and the cremations
7:42	·	of adults along with the burials of children well maybe this represents an early phase of
7:48	·	this transition to cremation and finally the other thing that this does for us is it marks a period
7:54	·	the earliest period in which we move away from the long linear structures the burials and the
8:00	·	ritual places the curses and the long barrerows of the world and it moves us into a new world
8:06	·	of circles of course apart from the nearly causeway enclosures that's a whole another
8:10	·	story i've been Paul thanks for watching click subscribe and we'll see you this time next week